Chaos is life, book 1: outcast
by amf studios
Summary: Chaos comes from choice, peace from conformity, as long as there is life, chaos will remain, why? Because true peace is death, but Chaos, chaos is life. crossposted to the avatar fanon portal.
1. prolouge

**This fanfic is essentially about the most misunderstood entity in all of Atlab or Lok, despite the fact he will rarely be shown, yet be there at almost all times. Now I love the concept of the dark avatar, just not the way it was dealt with, so I am rewriting continuity to fix that. This is an AU so don't complain. And as for why I am giving arguably the worst person in avatar a redemption, simple. Chaos comes from choice, peace from conformity, as long as there is life, chaos will remain, why? Because true peace is death, but Chaos, chaos is life. **

Prologue: freedom

Darkness. Vaatu lived on darkness, he lived for darkness, hell, he was darkness. He was perfectly contempt with living in darkness for 10,000 years, except that darkness can't keep you company. That was his real punishment, not being trapped in darkness, being trapped, alone.

He had no idea how long he had been there, just that he had finally caved. Vaatu was a patient spirit, he knew good things come to those who wait, so he waited, and waited, but no one came to his aid. Years must have had past by now, he knew no one was coming for him, no one had missed him, no one cared that he was gone. All they cared about was the era of peace and light they had with _Raava_.

He hated that name. While most, including her, might say they have both existed since the beginning of time, this was wrong. Darkness predated light, Vaatu was older than Raava. The first time Raava attacked him, (soon after the big bang, which he was glad he would never have to deal with again, it would have blinded him if he had eyes), he had just humored her. But as time passed he realized just how delusional the spirit of light was. She actually believed that he was evil, and she existed because the world couldn't handle his chaos. At first, it was easy, Vaatu would knock her down a few pegs then proceed with his day. But as time passed and the light grew, it came to the point that they were near-equals, that was when it became a problem. At some point, Raava refused to let Vaatu escape, she locked him into combat for thousands of years, he wished nothing more than to escape, to finally be free again.

Then one day, salvation came, a young fire-bender by the name of Wan saw them fighting, from his perspective it appeared that Raava was viciously attacking Vaatu. The Dark spirit told Wan the truth, Raava had locked him in combat for thousands of years with no real reason.

Wan freed him from Raava, Vaatu gave his thanks and was on his way. He had missed out on so much since his last taste of freedom, so he may have gotten a bit out of control, Ok a lot out of control, but finally, he was free, Raava was no longer his problem, he could finally put things back the way they were supposed to be. Chaos and peace as equals, Raava was always so obsessed with keeping balance, she completely overlooked what it entailed.

Vaatu went straight to work, he randomly selected locations to turn spirits dark. And when the time came for the harmonic convergence, he was ready for half the world to be consumed in total chaos. But then, everything went wrong. To put things simply, Raava and Wan combined into one entity, then locked him in a tree until the next convergence.

At first, all Vaatu cared about was revenge, but as time passed, he stopped caring. Now he didn't care what happened to Raava, he didn't care about these _Avatars_ who act all high and mighty because they were lucky. All he wanted, was freedom.

Then one day, in his prison of darkness, he felt a faint, light. He turned to the center of the tree of time and saw it, a faint, blue light. He was puzzled, Vaatu had no idea why the light was in his prison of darkness. He circled it for a moment, it didn't seem to shrink in any way as he did.

"_What's this? Raava's latest attempt to torment me?_" he asked himself staring into the light. He normally despised light, but this felt… familiar, it wasn't just light, it was, Alive.

Vaatu backed away from the light. When he did, the light started to fade. He noticed this, the light faded as he moved, it was strange usually light faded as he approached, now it seemed to be doing the opposite. He came closer to the light, it grew in accordance.

He decided he'd enough of this. He turned his "back" on the light, he was the spirit of darkness, light was none of his concern. But as he moved away from the light he heard something. It was like a cry in the darkness, echoing off the walls so you could hear it on all sides, Vaatu looked around the abyss as the cry seemingly got louder. He turned toward the light, it was almost out completely.

Vaatu then had an urge, he couldn't let this light die. Without thinking, he threw himself toward the light, he wrapped his paper-thin body around the light, as if to protect it. The next thing he knew, the light began to burn brighter, and brighter, until it illuminated the entire tree of time, Vaatu was blinded.

When the light faded, Vaatu felt… small, yet powerful, he looked around his surroundings, he was in a bright red room, dimly lit by candles. He tried to fly away to get a better look but found himself restrained by something, he turned to see one of his tendrils attached to… a baby? More specifically the infant's soul.

The child had brown hair that was almost black, its eyes were closed, and he felt the same light from before. He looked to the side to see the child's mother holding him, she seemed completely unaware of Vaatu's presence. She had lighter brown hair, brown eyes, and was wearing red and gold robes, Vaatu was noticing a theme.

It was then he realized his situation, he was unnoticeable to humans, but was tied to a child. He could go anywhere unnoticed, as long as the child was with him. Vaatu wraped his body around the child, if he was here, he might as well get comfortable, he was in this for the long hall.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter one: the calm

14 years later, in a village in the Fire Nation…

Beriku desu, a fourteen-year-old boy with dark brown hair and the same color of eyes was sitting in the middle of one of his history classes. To be honest, he had stopped paying attention to these, he much rather preferred his grandparent's stories, "better to ask someone who was there than a book," he thought.

Beriku was different than most fire nation teenagers. For one, no one had ever seen him fire-bend, and just assumed he couldn't(more on that later,) second, he was always more partial to cooler colors, like midnight blue, rather than the royal red most used, he defended this by saying a blue flame is much more powerful than a red one, he even made a blue version of the fire nation insignia which he was known for using, and third most assumed he was crazy because when he was young he said he heard voices in his head, however, he defended all of his oddities with very intelligent, well thought out, and most importantly, believable answers.

He didn't really care much about what happened during Fire-lord Azulon's rain, he just thought he was repeating Sozin's work. That was what interested him, Fire-lord Sozin's era, mainly, because it was the era of Avatar Roku. Beriku always had a fascination with the Avatars, though his knowledge on them was limited. The school would only teach about Fire nation avatars, and even then it was vague.

He always found them interesting, the power of all four elements within the palm of their hands, how would that feel?

Well, he didn't have much time to revel on that. The gong was rung symbolizing the end of the school day. With that done, Beriku was on his way to the beach for his favorite pass-time. It took him about a half hour to get there, but he spent an extra fifteen minutes to make sure he was alone. He passed the tree he marked with the symbols for his name and beach when he was ten. Beriku was really the only one who knew Beriku Beach existed, which was good for what he was about to do.

He changed out of his school uniform and into his more casual clothes sporting his blue insignia. He walked to the shoreline and began taking deep breaths. Beriku slowly moved his hands in a way similar to fire-bending, it was all of bending that he knew after all. But rather than sprouting fire from his fingertips, the water in front of him began to move more unnaturally, it began to mimic his movements, this is why he was never seen bending, he wasn't a fire-bender, he was a water-bender.

No one could explain where his connection to the water came from, the most likely scenario being a distant water-tribe ancestry. Beriku was always told to conceal his bending, for fear of what would be done to him if he didn't, but he knew that suppressing a talent isn't a good thing to do. Of course, with no water benders around to teach him, he had to mimic fire-bending he saw on a daily basis, because of this, his technique was more rigid and violent than a typical water bender.

After finding the beach, he began teaching himself, 4 going on 5 years of practice had made him as skilled with the basics as he could get.

After a few hours of practice, he just sat on the beach watching the waves. There was a magic to it, the push and pull of the tides, the way it looked so natural, so beautiful. Or maybe he was just biased to the element he bent, he didn't know.

"Meerow!" he heard from behind him, and a Cat-Owl landed on his shoulder.

"Hey, Ziri," he said to his pet. He noticed a note around her leg, "what'cha got there, girl?"

He took the note and read it, "_Beriku, time to come home, dinner is almost ready, Mom_."

"Alright, let's go," Beriku said. Ziri purred. He walked back the way he came and was back into town. Eventually, he came to a blacksmith shop, to the side of it was a half-awake komodo-rhino.

"Hey, there Ares," he said scratching its neck. The large beast made a happy groan in response.

He walked in, took his shoes off, an walked into his dining room.

"I'm Here!" he said.

"Shush, Zura's asleep," his mother said.

"Sorry," he said.

"You were water-bending again weren't you?" his father said from the other side of the room.

Wayne Desu, a master blacksmith, and decent firebender, as well as Beriku's father. He had a bulky build, hair similar to his son's and light blue eyes, his arms were covered in various scars and burn marks. In all honesty, he was disappointed when he discovered his eldest son would never fire-bend, and he was one of the people who thought he should conceal it the most.

"Squandering a useful talent is a waste and a danger," Beriku said.

"The only danger is if someone sees you," Wayne responded.

"I practice on a secluded beach, no one but me even knows it's there," Beriku said sitting at the table, "I'll be fine, and if anyone tries to hurt me, they have to face the weight of an ocean.

Before anyone could say anything else, his nine-year-old brother, Kerabu burst into the room. He had blond-brown hair, and metallic blue, almost grey, eyes. He was quite the rambunctious scamp, always doing something obnoxious.

"Hiya!" he yelled.

"Kera, quiet!" their dad said. But it was too late in the next room a baby started to cry.

"And there it is," their mother said leaving the room.

After that an awkward, quiet dinner, the two kids retired for the night. Although Beriku's dream was a strange one. He was in the middle of a forest, he was huge, at least fifty feet tall, and he was being attacked by something, it looked like some kind of kite, it was about his size, white and Diangular, and covered in blue markings. He tried to run but he felt restrained to it, but then he was hit with a giant flame!

The next thing he knew he was awake. What did this dream mean? He would soon discover, but for now, it was just a dream.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: the storm.

Saturday, the one day a week Beriku could practice uninterrupted. Today he was going to try something new he heard about from his uncle who was a soldier in the Earth Kingdom. According to his letters, a water bender froze four men in place, Beriku had already learned to manipulate the tides to his whim, now it was time to move on to ice.

He had set up a dummy that vaguely looked like a bandit. He readied his stance, bending a stream of water around him in mid-air. He began swaying it around him.

"Alright, let's do this!" he said as he shot the water toward the dummy. The water simply got it wet.

"Um, ok, let's try that again!" Beriku said. He made the water float around him again, swayed it side to side, and then shot it at the dummy. He got the same result.

"Urgh," he said getting more frustrated. He tried again, and again, every time the water stayed liquid instead of its frozen counterpart, if anything, he could swear the water was getting hotter! Inraged, he shot a blast at the dummy, nothing happened at first, but the top half of it slid off.

"And Now I need a new dummy, just great," Beriku groaned.

He sighed the brought a ball of water near him. It moved around for a while and then salt started to fall out. Another technique he had taught himself was to purify water by bending it in a way that made anything in it just fall out. He took a drink of the now pure liquid, thinking to himself.

He knew he would only get so far teaching himself, he'd need an expert at some point, but that was a problem, he was Fire Nation, a country that was almost exclusively firebenders if he wanted to find a teacher, he'd need to either go to either the Earth Kingdom or Northern Water Tribe, both of which were at war with his country.

He sighed again, he as well as many never understood the reason for the war, he only kept his mouth shut because the Fire-Lords didn't like being questioned, and questioning one usually meant an Agni-kai, or Fire duel, was in order. In an Agni-kai, the winner kills the loser, unless they choose to have mercy, and after what happened to Prince Zuko, who was about his age at the time, an Agni-kai was the last thing Beriku wanted.

He grabbed a log and put it where the previous dummy was. He prepared to launch the water, but before he had the chance he heard a gong go off, he then lost his concentration and the water ended up splashing all over him.

With an annoyed look, he bent the water off of himself, then began walking to town to see what the noise was all about.

When the town was within sight her saw several komodo rhinos being ridden by soldiers, the one in front he recognized as Admiral Zhao. Beriku went over to his family to ask what was going on.

"Why is Admiral Zhao here?" he asked.

"Quiet, whatever it is, it's important," his mother said.

Zhao's voice cut through the crowd, "Citizens of Shiga Village, due to retaliation to our forces in the earth kingdom, as well as news that the current Avatar has decided to make his presence known, Fire Lord Ozai has decreed that one male firebender from each family is to join the war effort!"

"What's that mean?" Karibu asked.

"It means at least one person from every family they call has to leave," their mother explained.

"This can't be good," their father said.

"_The avatar is back?_" Beriku thought to himself as a lieutenant began reading off names. He watched as one man from each family walked forward. Eventually, the lieutenant said, "the Desu Family!"

"But that means…" Beriku started. Before he did his father whistled. Next thing to happen was Aries came barreling down the street stopping at the crowd.

"Ready for service, Admiral," Wayne said.

"Goodman, Mister Desu," Zhao said.

"W-what? No!" Karibu yelled.

"Kera, I'll be fine," Wayne said but he didn't back down. Karibu went straight up to Zhao and said, "you can't take my dad away! You big… Baka!"

Zhao looked at him and then grabbed his arm. He turned his attention to Wayne, "you should really teach your children to have more respect, but don't worry, I'll give him a permanent reminder."

His free hand lit ablaze, he began to move his hand toward Karibu's face. For that moment, time seemed to stand still, Beriku looked into his brother's eyes, he could feel his fear, he saw the admiral's expression, blank, as if he had done this one-hundred times before. He witnessed a grown man, a soldier, someone people looked up to, about to permanently injure a child for speaking up for his father. Beriku couldn't let this happen, no, he _wouldn't_ let it happen.

Zhao's hand was now an inch away from Karibu's face, but at that moment, it was extinguished. A blast of water put the flame out and knocked him in the chest allowing Karibu to run to his parents.

Zhao, as well as the entire crowd, had their eyes on the blast, it floated back to Beriku and surrounded his hands.

Most of the crowd was jaw-dropped, the rest were enraged, Zhao was one of the angry ones.

"So, then, what's this? A revolt, a water-bender pretending to be a fire nation civilian," Zhao said, "you've been planning this, haven't? Knew I'd be in town and just needed an excuse to take me out? Well, you should have finished the job. Men!"

The soldiers at his side took his a fighting stance, Beriku copied them. They all launched a burst of fire at him, but Beriku wanted this. He launched a large blast of water from various parts of his surroundings. The blasts collided creating a wall of smoke.

He ran to his family and said, "Dad, dad, I'm so sorry I know, I know I shouldn't… I just, I couldn't let him…" but Wayne put his hand on his son's shoulder, "it's ok, you may have just attacked an admiral, but you were defending an innocent child, now take Aries and get you and your brother out of here!"

"What?" Beriku asked.

"If either of you stays, they'll burn him, and at best imprison you, you need to leave before they find you, your mother and I will be fine," Wayne said, he then whistled getting the Komodo-rhino's attention. He hoisted his youngest son on its saddle.

"But dad, will you be ok?" Karibu asked.

"Yes, they can't prove we've done anything bad," their father responded, he turned his attention to Beriku, "get to the northwest port in Fucheng, once you're there use this money to get a boat to the earth kingdom, it's capital, Ba Sing Se has been taking in refugees, that's your best bet," Wayne said, "promise me you'll make it there!"

Beriku looked at his father and said, "you have my word, send Ziri our way, we'll make sure to write!"

He jumped onto Aries' saddle. He looked at his parents before he could say anything, the soldiers began bursting through the steam.

"Outa time, Aries, Ya!" Beriku said. The Rhino began running forward at full speed, ramming a couple of soldiers, everyone else was smart enough to get out of the way when they heard him.

"What are you waiting for? After them!" Zhao yelled.

The Komodo back soldiers began to chase after the brothers.

"Crap, Kari!" Beriku said when he saw the approaching threat, his brother eyed him, "can you take the rope?"

"What, Why?!" Karibu asked shocked.

"Because I can't ride and bend at the same time!" the older brother shot back. The two swapped positions, "just try not to hit anyone!"

Beriku began taking water from various places as they passed houses and shops. The water was grouped into three orbs, he used the first to knock one soldier off his rhino, the second cut the ropes to another's saddle.

"Alright, where's the third one?" Beriku said as the third rammed into them, he shot the final blast but the soldier ducked. Karibu rammed Aries into the soldier's rhino in return. Beriku was shocked at his brother's skills, "when did you become a riding expert?"

"I dunno," Kerabu responded. The soldier rammed them again.

"Uh, there!" Beriku said pointing to the forest. The younger boy turned the rhino in said direction, the soldier followed suit. The rooted path was harder to manage than the road, but komodo rhinos were resilient creatures.

"Fire another shot!" Karibu said.

"I can't, that was the last one," his brother replied.

"Isn't there water in trees?" the younger brother asked. Beriku's eyes widened in realization and he started bending the water within trees, a number of them fell creating a barricade. The soldier stopped in his tracks.

"Oh yeah, Desu brothers: one, Zhao: zero," Karibu said as his brother took the rope.

"Next stop, the city of Fucheng, then on to Ba Sing Se," Beriku replied.

The three soldiers returned to Admiral Zhao, only one of him still had his rhino. The admiral looked at them with a stern expression, "Find that water bender, place 500 gold knots on his head, dead or alive."

The soldiers nodded and left. Zhao sighed, "don't worry Mister Desu, We'll find your son and your rhino, but for now, I believe we should pick up where we left off. Welcome to the fire navy, mister Desu."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: runaway.

A few hours had passed since Beriku and Karibu escaped the fire-soldiers, it was now sundown, Karibu drifting to sleep on the back of Aries' saddle, they hadn't eaten yet, in the rush to leave, their father only had enough time to give them enough money to last the next couple of days plus the ship to the earth kingdom. He wanted to sleep too, but then needed to keep moving, there was no telling how long before some bounty hunter Zhao hired showed up.

Beriku wanted to at least make it within walking distance of the next town before making camp, they needed food after all. He knew the general direction he was headed in, northwest to Fucheng, but they were in the southernmost region of the fire nation, traveling by rhino it would take them a few days, longer if any distractions came up.

He sighed, it had all happened so quickly, they had to leave within minutes or at best be disfigured and at worst dead, if they had seen this coming, they could have been prepared. No, they couldn't have been, they were just victims of circumstance, neither had any idea this would happen, they had no idea they would need to leave their parents.

That was when it sunk in for Beriku, they were alone, if they went back they were as good as dead, their father would be drafted into the war, he had no idea what'd happen to their mother, and now all the brothers had was each other. And as for when and if they get to Ba Sing Se, what then? He would have to get some kind of job, hopefully, they'd take self-taught water-bending as a skill, they'd be living in constant fear of attack, they'd probably need fake names, "_I wonder if Lee isn't a bad choice_," he thought. this was all just too crazy.

He saw the light of a nearby village. He turned Aries away from the path then dismounted. "Stay here, boy, and don't let Karibu out of your sight."

Aries huffed in response which meant he understood it as, "_Stay and Protect_."

"Good, boy," Beriku said as he began walking to the town, "a few shops should still be open."

He took out the bag of money, he knew getting a boat to the earth kingdom would be at least 6 silver knots, plus however much it would take to bribe them into letting Aries on board. He had at least 30 bronze, 10 silver, and 1 gold knot, he had to be wary of his spending, "just food, a map, blankets, and a bag to put them in," he said to himself.

He saw the first shop, "Lotus trading post," thank the spirits it was still open. He entered the building, a little bell ringing as he opened the door. The first thing he grabbed was a map of the fire-nation, according to it he was only a few miles from Shiga village, he rolled it up then moved on, next he grabbed two satchels, and two blankets, which were on sale. He went to the counter and put everything on it.

Behind the counter was an old woman with graying hair and wearing a deep red kimono. She noticed and said, "why hello there young man, just these then?"

"No, I also need advice, what food will last the longest before starting to decay," Beriku asked.

"Oh, you'll want to stick to grain foods, like bread or rice, they don't rot as fast as fruit or meat," she said, "Why do you ask?"

"My brother and I are on a long trip and we need to spend as little as possible, so I can't be constantly buying food," Beriku said. Grabbing some of what she said, a couple of pots and a knife

"Ah, a boy and his brother on a trip, bonding as they go, visiting family?" the woman asked.

"You… could say that," Beriku lied. The woman smiled, "that will be 19 bronze knots dear, where are you two headed?"

"Just up north," he responded giving her the money.

"Ah, like the capital then? Well, I hope you two have fun," the woman said, "oh, and here, a little souvenir for the road."

She handed him a Pai Sho coin ensribed with a white lotus. He put in his bag and said, "thank you."

"Oh, and if happened to run into anyone by the name of Wu Fong, tell him Miss Zenn gave you that," Miss Zen winked.

"Depends on if I meet him or not," Beriku said, "thank you."

He left the shop and began walking back to the spot where he left Aries. the komodo rhino was fast asleep, the same as the child on his back. Beriku took one of the blankets he bought and covered Karibu with it. He took the other one a covered up, he was awake for a few more hours with the knife in his hand, keeping watch before finally drifting to sleep.

The next morning karibu awoke to the smell of rice, he looked over at his brother who was apparently cooking breakfest.

"When did you… Yawn!, get food?" he asked getting off Ares back.

"Took a shopping trip last night," Beriku said as he poured the rice into two bowls and began slicing some bread.

"Now eat up, we won't eat again until dinner," Beriku said handing him his food, "and you won't touch the knife."

"Ok," Karibu said digging in, "but what about Aries? he needs to eat too."

"I'll figure something out for him later," Beriku replied as he began eating. When they finished, Beriku packed everything up while Kari woke up Aries.

Beriku mounted him and his brother followed suit. Aries began walking forward at a moderate pace.

"So, what we gonna do went we make it to Sa Bing Be?" Karibu asked.

"Kari, it's Ba Sing Se, you'll have to learn that if we'll be living there, and truth be told I don't know," his brother replied, "I guess things will just be the same as they were, yet not at all."

"Do you think we'll see mom and dad again?" Karibu asked with a bit of a sadder voice.

"I don't know, but we have to be strong, if we get caught then what was the point of giving us an escape?" Beriku responded. Then both the boys heard, "Meeeroow!" just before Ziri came into sight. She landed on her master's arm, and he took the note tied to her leg.

It read, "_Dear boys, I hope you're safe, your father has been drafted and will leave tomorrow, but that isn't the main reason for concern, Admiral Zhao has declared you,(Beriku) an attempted murderer and kidnapper, he's already placed a large bounty on your head, you have to get out of the Fire Nation as fast as possible, be careful who you trust. Mom_."

"We gotta move," beriku said.

Meanwhile, a figure wrapped in tan clothing with bandages covering the entirty of her arms,and a cloth mask covering everything but her eyes, and a long black braid over slung over her shoulder was looking for her next score. Her eyes darted from wanted poster to wanted poster.

"Let's see here, Too easy, too much effort, wouldn't be caught dead near him," she said as she tried to decide her target then something caught her eye, "Avatar Aang, Airbender, creates tornadoes, runs like the wind… yeah right."

She ripped the poster off the wall and crumpled it up, "there have been false alarms before."

Then she noticed another poster she grabbed it, "Five hundred gold Knots for the capture of Beriku Desu, no one knows whether or not this is a fake identity, known water bender, charged with attempted murder of Admiral Zhao, kidnapping of Karibu Desu, assault on fire nation soldiers, last seen fleeing Shiga village by komodo rhino, wanted dead or alive," she read, she folded the poster and put it within her shirt, "Looks like I'll be seeing you soon, Beriku."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 run away with the circus

At some point, the brothers stopped at a large strait, they had decided it was the best time to rest since they had been on the road since morning.

Beriku had set up multiple croud dummies, he had realized he might have to do the fighting from here on in, he was also learning to fight with a limited water supply, keeping a single stream. He did a cart-wheel forward knocking the water into one dummy, then directed it into another's midsection with a swift kick, then a couple of punches took out the other two.

"Not bad, but the real deal will be tough-" _Crash. _"-er," he said to himself. Beriku then turned his attention to his brother who had been playing fetch with Aries, who had just knocked down several trees. Karibu looked at him with a "what'd I do?" look, all he could do in return was stare in disappointment.

Beriku face palmed, then went back to his training.

Karibu picked up another stick and said, "Here, Aries! Here boy!"

The Komodo rhino jumped in place a couple of times while waging his tail.

"Want the stick? Want the stick? Go get it!" he threw the stick and the large beast began running after the piece of wood, toppling another tree. Aries came back with the stick in his mouth.

"Could you keep it down?" Beriku asked.

"Why, because you don't like noise when you're practicing your magic water," Karibu asked.

"First of all, that "magic water" saved your butt from third-degree burns, second of all, yes it is usually quiet when I practice, and last of all, we are hiding from the authorities! Anyone with common sense would know noise is a bad idea!" Beriku scolded him, he facepalmed, "look I'm sorry but the last two days have me on edge, we could be attacked at any moment, so we have to be smart about this."

"It's ok, but what am I supposed to do until we get to Fucheng? You said it yourself we'll be on the road for days!" Kari said.

"I don't know, find some quiet activity while I practice, I don't care what as long as it's quiet and doesn't involve hurting yourself," Beriku said, then both the brothers heard a large rumbling noise. They looked dumbfounded at Aries.

"Look's like he's hungry," Karibu said and Beriku sighed, "of course he is, his stomach is bigger than you! We'll take him to town."

A trip back to town, just what they needed. Beriku lead the komodo rhino while his brother road on his back saying hi to anyone who passed. The older brother just sighed in annoyance. Eventually, they came to a butcher shop.

"I'll be right back, make sure he stays here," he said.

"Come on, I got this!" Karibu said cockily.

"I was talking to Aries," Beriku said bluntly, before disappearing into the shop. Kari sighed and threw himself upside down, his top half hanging off the saddle. He heard aries stomach grumble, but then he heard what sounded like giant smaking lips. Karibu got up and saw a girl about Beriku's age feeding Aries. She had light brown hair in a long braid, darker brown eyes, pale white skin, and wearing a pink, two peice outfit with her waste exposed.

The girl noticed him and said, "Oh, hey, just couldn't help but notice your rhino was hungry."

"Yeah, my big brother's getting him some food," Karibu responded, "how did you notice?"

"I live with a lot of large animals," she smiled, "what's the big guys name?"

"Aries, and I'm Karibu, what's yours?" Kari asked.

"Ty Lee," she said. At that moment, beriku exited the building with a bag of meat, muttering something about money. He noticed Ty Lee and had what looked like a mix between curiosity and a high guard.

"And you must be the big brother, I'm Ty Lee, I was just admiring your rhino, and fed him a bit," she said smiling warmly.

"Well, thanks, names Beriku," he replied not taking his eyes off her.

"Glad to meetcha," Ty Lee replied, "so you guys live here?"

"No, just passing through," Beriku said, "guessing same with you?"

"Yep, here on work," Ty lee replied, "just in town till tomorrow, what about you guys?"

"We were just leaving," Beriku said.

"Awe what, you're leaving already?" Ty Lee asked.

"Yeah, we're heading north, and we have to get there soon, so no detours," Beriku said.

"Aw come on bro, we just got here, besides apart from the first five minutes this trip has been boring," Karibu sighed.

"Well thats no good, rode trips are supposed to be fun," Ty Lee said, "tell ya what, there's a circus in town, I can getcha both tickets to tonight's show, my treat!"

"Really?!" Karibu said wide-eyed.

"Um, no thanks, we bearly know you and we'd hate to impose," Beriku said.

"No, it's no problem, I insist," Ty Lee said.

Karibu came up to his brother and said, "Ppllleeaaasssee?"

Beriku realized if he didn't cave he'd have to deal with this for the next few days so he said, "Fine."

Karibu began jumping for joy while Ty Lee said, "I know it can be hard dealing with siblings, but you should let loose a little, trips are about the journey, not the destination."

"I guess I do need to relax a bit after the last two days," Beriku said to himself, "Well, I guess we're coming."

"Good, it's a date! Circus starts around sundown!" Ty Lee said beginning to walk away.

"We won't miss it!" Karibu said.

"Wait, did she say date?" Beriku asked.

Meanwhile in shiga village, the boys' mother, Fumi(should have mentioned that one earlier, huh?) was taking their baby sister Zura to a babysitter, with her husband drafted for the war, and both her sons on the run, she had begun to work herself in the market place, having one of her close friends watch her daughter.

Suddenly the wind picked up, and sand was being blown in her direction. Fumi shielded her daughter's eyes from the sudden sand storm. When it began to die down, a strange vehicle was in sight. It had the appearance of a boat mostly, it was made of some kind of birch wood, in the middle of its two-piece haul was a large wheel, which was made of a darker, sturdier wood, and a metal tire. It had a large, beige sail most likely made from some kind of large beast, inscribed in its haul was 匆匆的野牛, or rushing bison.

The strangest thing about the ship was the only one on board, she looked about 16, and her tan attire made it obvious she was not fire-nation, in fact, the way she was dressed combined with the sudden sand storm indicated one thing, A sand bender. Earth-benders who comed the deserts of the earth kingdom, the sand benders were quick and ruthless, very much like the fire-nation, except fight with no honor at all, they only had concern for themselves, easily turning on anyone.

Fumi knew sand benders rarely stray outside the desert, they always preferred to fight in their domain, if she was here, she had a reason to be. What was stranger was she was alone, sand benders always traveled in groups to overwhelm their prey.

The Sand bender reached into her shirt and took out a piece of parchment, she held it out in front of her, it was a wanted poster for Beriku. Fumi was shocked when it unfolded.

The sand bender spoke with venom in her voice, "who here has seen this water-bender?"

A few people raised there hands. The sand bender randomly picked a man, "you! Where was he headed?"

"Ugh, I don't know where he was going, but I saw where he went," the man replied.

The sand bender jumped off her ship and walked to the man, "Where?"

The man pointed toward the woods, "just up north, through the forest."

The sand-bender went up to the entrance of the forest, she examined the ground. She noticed the pattern of giant clawed footprints. She walked back to her ship, and said, "Much obliged."

The sand around her began to move like a gust of wind pushing her her sail in the direction of the woods. The ship was gone as fast as it had appeared. Fumi stared at the dust trail, "this is bad."

Later, back with the boys who were now within sight of the circus tent. A poster said it was their last day before moving on to a few towns over. Karibu was on Beriku's shoulders looking for Ty Lee, they had left Aries a few yards away, they knew he wouldn't be let in, but he deserved some rest.

"Where do you think Ty Lee is?" Kari asked.

"I don't know, but she has our tickets so we'd better find her," his brother responded.

"Hey Guys!" they heard her yelled. Karibu got off of Beriku's shoulders and they started walking toward where they heard her. When she was in sight they noticed that she was wearing a much fancier outfit, which was mainly white, with red lining, and golden bracelets and a tiara.

"Hey, you clean pretty nicely, you always dressed this fancily at a circus?" Beriku asked.

"Believe it or not, I am," Ty Lee laughed.

"Oh, I've never been to one of these, you think they have platypus-bears, or wolfbats? Ooh, or even Badgermoles?" Karibu asked excited.

"Kari has a love for animals," Beriku said a little embarassed at his brothers outburst.

"Well, I don't know about Badgermoles, but there are a lot of cool animals," the girl responded with a warm smile.

The three of them entered the tent. Beriku chose some seats in the third row and the other two sat next to him, Ty Lee between the brothers. The lights of the tent began to dim, then a singal spotlight shined on the ringmaster.

His voice boomed throughout the tent, "Ladies, and gentlemen, we welcome you to the great flame traveling circus!"(I didn't know what it was called so I took a wild guess.*shrug*) "For our first act is the amazing animal tamer, who can control any animal in the world, please welcome, Monsuta Chi!"

A man entered the tent, followed by a cage of animals. He was wearing black robes, with scarlet lining, he had silver hair, tan skin, and a foot long mustache, as well as a cut over his left right. the cage was opened, and out of it came three anger wolf-bats, all three of them were very angry, they began to circle, Monsuta. He stared at them with an unmoving expression. The three wolf-bats all charged at the same time. Monsuta put his hand up, the angry creatures halted and whined, it was hard to tell. He lowered his hand and the wolf-bats began to bow to him, still whining.

Beriku watched in bewilderment, but Karibu couldn't help but feel sorry for the animals. Most thought the wolf-bats were whining in fear, but no, he could tell they were in pain. However Monsuta controlled them it was painful. Next thing you knew, Monsuta moved his hands and the wolf-bats moved back into their cage. The audience applauded.

The Ringmaster exclaimed, "What an amazing performance, three deadly wolf-bats, tamed by the very pressance of Monsuta!"

"Well that was interesting," Beriku said, "don't you think Ty Lee?"

Both he and karibu than noticed said girl was missing.

"Where'd she go?" Karibu asked.

"Next up, here to perform her amazing, acrobatic, type rope rutine, give it up for…" the ringmaster started, "Miss Ty Lee!"

"Ty lee is IN the circus!" both brothers said at once.

The spot light focused on Ty Lee who was now on one end of the type rope. She did a cart wheel forward stoping by putting her hand on the rope, supporting the rest of her body in midair. She did a flip before landing on the rope getting a round of applause. She blew a kiss to the audience, (in the general direction of Beriku), then took three steps forward before grabbing the rope and swinging around it left, then turning to do it in the opposite direction and landing on both feat, she continued to walk on and did more flips and cartwheels, eventually landing on the end of the rope, she gave a bow and the audience went wild.

The three met up after the show. Karibu was freaking extatic.

"I can't believe your an acrobat!" Karibu said.

"It was pretty impressive," Beriku smirked.

"Thanks, I've had practice," Ty Lee blushed, "I take it you had fun?"

"Yeah, this was awesome, but…" Karibu started, his tone dampening the mood.

"We gotta get moving, we've lost enough time, We gotta be in Fucheng with the next couple of days before our money runs dry," Beriku finished.

"Wait, Fucheng?" Ty Lee asked then her smile returning, "Guys, the circus route is like half of the way there!"

"What?" Beriku asked.

"You guys can hitch-hike with us up until we reach the capital, then you'll be halfway there!" Ty Lee exclaimed.

"Really?!" karibu asked.

"Yeah, well what do guys say?" the acrobat asked.

Beriku looked at her, then smirked, "Looks like we're running away with the circus!"


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter five: teachers

When morning rolled around, the circus staff began packing everything up. Thanks to Ty Lee pulling some strings, Beriku and Karibu were able to stay in her tent while Aries slept next to it. The one drop at to this was the fact of, Ty Lee was a morning person, they were not.

"Come on, Boys! Up and at em!" she said effectively waking the brothers up.

"Seriously, can't we sleep for like five more minutes?" Karibu asked.

"Nope, better get used to it, you got to be up this early every time we jump towns, for the next two weeks," Ty Lee said.

The two boys groaned before getting up.

"How long until we leave?" Beriku asked.

"About an hour, why?" Ty Lee asked.

"Got something to do before we do," Beriku said walking away.

"What's that about?" the young acrobat asked the nine-year-old.

"He's gonna go practice this thing he does," Karibu said, "can you show me the animals before we leave?"

"I don't see why not," Ty Lee said.

"Yay!" Karibu said as the two headed for the animal tent.

A little later, after Beriku had made sure he was alone, he began to practice his ice technique again, now that he was traveling with a large group of people he had lost the privilege of training whenever he wanted to, so he would have to take any opportunity.

He prepared to blast the water at a stump (at this point he just quit with the dummies), he breathed in, then out, and shot the water at the stump not. It did not freeze and simply knocked the stump over.

Beriku's eye twitched for a second, then he stomped while angrily muttering, "stupid water, why can't I just freeze it?"

To his surprise, an elderly voice answered his question, "with a temper like that I am not surprised."

Beriku turned around to see none other than Monsuta, the animal tamer from the night before, at a closer distance he could see Monsuta was blind in the right eye, but his gaze held firm. How could he have been so careless, he thought as the old man approached.

Monsuta recognized the worry in the boy, he then did something that Beriku didn't expect, he began to move his hands slowly, then brought a stream of water up around him, then without warning, sprung it at the stump freezing it solid.

Beriku looked dumbfounded, he stared at the elder in awe.

"Your form lacks proper training, and your temper too hot to allow you to freeze, but you still have potential," Monsuta said rubbing his chin, "your training beings tonight, after everyone has turned in, don't be late."

Beriku just stared at Monsuta as he walked away. Eventually yelling, "What!?"

Meanwhile with Karibu and Ty Lee in the animal tent. Karibu was ecstatic, he'd never seen this many large animals in one place before. He didn't get to see all of them since the roadies were loading most of the cages.

One that was still there, however, was the cage of wolf-bats. He was about to put his had to one but someone said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Karibu turned to see a person about eighteen come up, he had black hair and was wearing a dark grey jacket, pants, black boots, and goggles.

"Those wolf-bats are new, apart from Monsuta's act, they aren't used for much, so they haven't been properly trained yet," he said, "Hi, I'm Rokai, I'm the in house vet, I see the animals more than anyone."

"A vet, cool!" Karibu said, "but why haven't they been trained?"

"Well, we just got them, Monsuta is always requesting new and more dangerous animals so and I quote, 'the act keeps its charm,'" Rokai said, "after he gets new ones, we either have to incorporate them into the routine or let em go, and these winged devils are too expensive and too dangerous to release."

"Yeah, it seems like after they've been in his act for a few days he doesn't interact with them at all," Ty Lee agreed.

"Yeah, Monsuta's an odd old man, after he's done with them, I'm left dealing with them," the vet said, "Hey kid, I'm going to do a check up on our Elephant mandril, but my assistant called in sick, wanna help?"

"Do I?" Karibu exclaimed.

Later back in the lotus trading post, Miss Zenn was stocking one of the shelves when the window blew in with a gust of sand. Next, the door was opened letting more sand in, a young sand-bender following it.

"Why, hello dear, far from home are we?" Miss Zenn asked.

The sand-bender took a wanted poster out of her shirt, "seen this guy?"

"Awe yes, that young man was here just two days ago, said he was on a trip with his brother," Miss Zenn said.

"Did he say where he was going?" the sand-bender asked.

"Hmm, Oh that's right, he said he was headed _east_," the older woman said.

"East?" the sand-bender narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, east, to Ember Island," Miss Zann smiled.

"Thanks," the sand-bender said leaving the shop. She made it halfway to her ship before noticing Komodo tracks heading north. She got closer and examined them, they were three days old. She looked back at the old lady and growled, "I don't like being lied to."

She jumped onto her ship and a sandstorm carried her away. Miss Zenn had a worried look on her face, "this could be a problem."

Meanwhile, the circus had set up camp for the night, Ty Lee was currently taking a hot bath while Kaibu was relenting the day's events to Beriku, everyone else, out like a light.

"And then, he let me check the Mandril's heartbeat!" Karibu cheered.

"Sounds like going with Ty Lee wasn't a bad choice huh?" Beriku said, "I have to go do something, try to get some sleep, and don't drive Ty Lee up the wall."

"Ok, hey can I ride with Rokai tomorrow?" the younger brother asked.

"I don't see why not," Beriku said smiling. He left the cart and began walking passed the other carts until he found one with Monsuta's name on it. He knocked three times, a second afterward the older water-bender opened the door, and said, "on time? Good, come, we have much to cover for our first night."

Monsuta began walking to a nearby river, Beriku following silently. When they arrived he asked, "so, were you born here too, or are you originally from one of the water tribes?"

Monsuta answered to the point, "I hail from the southern water tribe, why I am here we shall discuss later, for now, we are to focus on your training, over the next week, before sunrise and after everyone is asleep, I shall teach you all I know about the art of water bending, when the week is up you will be put through an evaluation to determine if you are ready to learn the most advanced levels of this sacred art, do you understand?"

"Yes, Shifu Chi," Beriku bowed in response.

"Good, let us begin," Monsuta told his new pupil. He told Beriku to put a stream of water around him, he complied. The older water bender did the same and said, "Water is the element of change, and of the four elements, it is more powerful than any of them, because of this water has the most ways to bend, basic style, steam bending, ice bending, healing…"

"I hear that, I actually stopped a Komodo back soldier by bending the water in trees to make them fall into a barricade," Beriku interrupted, he received a glare from his teacher, "sorry."

"Plant bending was also on that list, looks like I won't need to teach you that," Monsuta said, "and though your stance seems more rigid than it should be, you seem proficient enough in basic style, so Ice bending it is."

"Are you sure? I've tried at least five times and I haven't gotten it to work once," Beriku sighed.

"You may be a water bender, however, the traits of a fire bender are very present in you, your inner fire is heating your bending, like any form of bending, if you cannot control it, it will control you," Monsuta said, "you must learn to cool your inner flame, to control your emotions, to control yourself. Achieve that, and ice-bending will come naturally."

Monsuta bent tree to fall, the sliced its trunk twice, he then set it up right and said, "Freeze it."

Beriku bent the water and rushed it at the log, it simply knocked it back, he tried again, and again, and again. His frustration was obvious on his face, then Monsuta said, "control your inner fire, control yourself."

Beriku took a deep breath, he thought of the waves on Beriku Beach, how the water pushed and pulled, it calmed him. He slowly mimicked the tides of his memories and launched the water at the log, it knocked it in mid-air, but this time, froze it solid.

Monsuta smiled at his pupil before saying, "Again."

Beriku shot another blast of water that quickly froze into ice, and another, until the area looked like a winter night.

"Very good, that concludes your training for tonight, congratulations, Beriku, you are an ice bender," Monsuta said, "now go rest for tomorrow, and practice different ways to use your ice-bending, I hope to show you a new technique tomorrow."

"Yes, Shifu Chi," Beriku said as he bowed and began walking away, "and thanks."

Meanwhile, the sand-bender had followed the tracks to a large open area. They started to combine with thousands of other tracks, following them any more would just be a waste of time. She noticed another poster on the ground, "_the Great Flame Traveling Circus_," it read. She saw a number of tracks all headed in the same direction, north.

"Run away with the circus, huh?" she asked out loud, "what a cliche."


End file.
